


Coffee Run

by zero_paradise



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: AU, Coffee, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:14:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25537897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zero_paradise/pseuds/zero_paradise
Summary: Cloud has a reserved seat at a coffee shop to catch glimpses of Tifa on a run.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31





	Coffee Run

**Author's Note:**

> I was pursing twitter looking for inspiration for a more in depth Cloud x Tifa fic that I have in mind, when I saw [this art of Tifa](https://twitter.com/szajnie/status/1286829611578400769) by szajnie on twitter. She was too cute, so I had to write something!  
> Enjoy! Please comment and let me know what you think!  
>   
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> 

  
  
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_Coffee Run_

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It had been two weeks since his last cup of coffee.

Cloud did not like coffee. The smell had however, grown on him. It wasn’t that the taste was too bitter or that there was too much sugar. He couldn’t tell you what kinds his favorite was or what his turn offs were, his barista new more than him. She was sweet, she was the owner and he suspected she spent most of her earnings on the flower shop next door than anything else. Every table had fresh flowers, a new flower to the bunch daily. He could tell anyone about every seat in the house, there weren’t many but he had tried them all. He was working his way through the menu next,

_‘I’ll have a, uh,’_ He began and stopped all the same. Patrons shifted with impatience behind his silence. The regulars groaned, 

_‘This guy again?’_

The owner, Aerith, would laugh. She was never bothered by his plight, _‘Alright, Cloud. Let’s try,’_ she’d wave her finger like a wand, a fairy godmother putting together the perfect dress. _‘This one!’_ She always told him the details and name but his attention was already lost and looking out the window onto the street. He didn’t know the price of the drink, he never looked at the menu long enough to work it out. The first visit he chose the most expensive drink and had kept with it, he’d slip Aerith twenty gil every day, a tip and a cup. She could give him a sample size and he wouldn’t even know it or stop to complain. The owner only needed one week to learn he wasn’t here for her coffee or teas. 

One day he was shocked to see a little reserved sign at his favorite table, outside and at the corner. He didn’t even know shops on this street had reserves!

_‘Hey, just for you!’_ She said and picked up the sign with a wink. Had it been that obvious? He almost didn’t come the next day, afraid to have been known. He was being creepy and she knew it, maybe she appreciated the business and the fact he kept his distance? The corner seat had become the highlight of his day, his morning boost wasn’t the cup of coffee in his hand. He only finished his drinks just so Aerith wouldn’t see him pour out her hard work. His morning cup was the woman on the run. 

This was the creeper part. They were practically strangers.

“Long time no see stranger!” Aerith beamed proudly, the coffee shop was the first welcome home he’d gotten. Cloud lived alone. He had some regulars on his delivery routes, but most were concerned with the product than his reappearance. She didn’t miss a beat “Let’s try,” 

Two weeks away and the drink wasn’t like the others, she had remembered right where they left off and continued to try new mixtures for his unpalatable tongue. He laid down the reserve sign. Had she put it up every morning for him in his absence? He’d need to leave a tip big enough to compensate for the lost seat. The minutes ticked and he picked up the book he had been working on reading for the months he’d been coming to Aerith’s shop. Cloud would glance at one or two words on sporadic pages then watch over the top of the book. She was always here at six thirty, her routine more reliable than his deliveries.

He stared and watched, book slowly shifting to the table. It was seven. 

“Cloud?” Aerith asked replacing the flowers on another table, “hello? You okay?”

He didn’t miss her, had he? He glanced at Aerith then back to the street. Maybe she changed her route, he’d never see her again. He never asked her name; he just knew the sound of her laugh, the way she spoke while trying to catch her breath. In one week he met the same stranger three times, he was charmed each more than the last. They had bumped into each other on the street, she had been checking her phone on her run and he had been checking his looking for his delivery spot. She laughed the incident off and helped him gather his things. The second time in the rain, he’d been lost and she was running. 

‘It’s you!’ She sighed through breathes and showed him the way without a second thought, she told she knew the neighborhood like the back of her hand. Best coffee shop is Aerith’s! 

The last time had been in a bookstore, she was practically climbing the shelves when Cloud came up behind her and got the book for her. Truthfully she could have gotten it herself but he wanted to pay back her kindness. He also wanted to talk to her even if for a second longer. He was only there for a pickup but ended up buying one just to keep up the conversation. He wanted to introduce himself, ask her for a recommendation at the coffee shop. 

Now he was the creep who happened know she passed this corner every morning at six-thirty, the discovery made thanks to repeat flower deliveries. He didn’t know what to say so he said nothing hoping instead they could run into each other again.

“Um. Yeah, what?” His stare down with the streets were lost. Every imaginary scenario of jumping over the railing to say hello suddenly eviscerated. His only chance, gone. Aerith joined him at the table, 

“You know. You’re probably my second-best customer.”

“Second?” He smiled and sipped at the coffee, his face giving nothing away as he drank to consume rather than taste. 

“Yup! I was really worried Cloud, I was like. Wow! One and two gone in the same weeks! Scared me.” Her lips pursed in a pout, then twisted in an impish grin. She tapped the reserve sign on its spine and popped it up.

“I’m afraid you’re in number one’s seat.”

“Huh? Oh,” She waved her hands as he scrambled to get up,

“Oh no mister! You are going to explain yourself! You stay put.” She stood and pointed her finger in his direction and walked backwards into the shop, “Don’t you move an inch.” 

Cloud knocked his knuckles on the wooden tabletop. It was odd. He would have left if he had any deliveries or if anyone else had told him to stay. Since it was Aerith who had told him, he stayed. He felt guilty for the sign and never properly asking for what he wanted. The least he could do was explain himself, apparently. Though his time might be better spent clearing off tables. Had she been trying to freshen up the flowers?

He hooked his toes on the table leg and stretched, he wasn’t moving more than a few inches, well within reason. Fingertips brushed the petals in encouraging strokes, he pinched a piece of the flower and pulled. It didn’t pluck the petal and only pulled the entire vase over.

“Shit,” he sprung his first instinct the grab the bundle by its neck.

“Oh. For me?” Someone asked. Cloud spun, flowers in hand. Not just a girl smiled at him, the girl! 

He blamed the coffee shop. It dulled his senses and made him stupid, he could never place an order and didn’t think things through. Cloud offered the bundle to her,

“Yes.” He swallowed his nerves: keep cool.

“Number one, Tifa, meet number two! Cloud.” Aerith did in seconds what had taken Cloud weeks, she gestured at the seat across from him. Quadruple. Cloud was going to tip her four times as much!

“Hi,” he started towards the seat taking the flowers with him as Tifa reached. “Oh.” He twisted in an awkward dance and thrusted them towards her again. Her smile was soft and kind, he hated the flowers for hiding it when she smelled them. 

“Smells like table three.”

“Oh,” Cloud fumbled, of course she noticed. Why would he have flowers? Sure he would have brought flowers for her every day but what sense did that make while she was running? Aerith told them not to worry already back with a bundle to replace the empty table’s vase and a rag to clear the water. Again, she motioned at the empty seat, discreet to give Cloud the win. He nodded,

“Right.” The allusion of his brilliance and chivalry shattered, though Tifa did not seem bothered, she waited and set the flowers down on the table. He noticed the obvious after the first hop,

“Your foot?”

“A small sprain. Crutches are overkill.” She leaned them against the table and sat as Cloud pushed in her chair. “Aerith, can I have a white caramel macchiato?”

“Me too. Fresh out,” his drink was still hot when he swallowed the rest. He held the empty cup upside down to prove a point, excited for, quiet possibly, the best cup of coffee he’d ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are hella appreciated. Def. need the motivation to keep at it so I can work on my other fic idea.  
> Again, this little ficlet was inspired by szajnie’s drawing of Tifa on twitter. Please be sure to check it out by [ szajnie ](https://twitter.com/szajnie/status/1286829611578400769) over here!
> 
> PS I don’t have a beta or patience to properly edit myself.  
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> Also I'm on tumblr: [diedieri](https://diedieri.tumblr.com/)  
> On pillowfort: [Manas-Moment](https://www.pillowfort.social/Manas-Moment)


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